For centuries, where the Jews settled down, they were often forced to uproot and move, and when they had no choice but to wander, people wondered why they could not settle down.

One finds the phrase “dem goles shlepn” in the moving Yiddish song “Oyf’nPripetshik.” Translated into English and transferred to the North American experience, the phrase may take on a comic feel, as in the title of Michael Wex’s hilarious novel Shlepping theExile.